For the Ice King in Full Blossom
by Daedreamer
Summary: Rin is a girl in disguise as a boy. Why? For a boy called Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru, an up and coming figure skater who attends an all-boy's school, soon finds himself with a very effeminate roommate.
1. Crash Landing

Crash Landing

Hey everyone! I know I seem incapable of finishing a story, then starting another, however, this chapter is dedicated to my sister and the advisor for this story. Happy Birthday!

This is basically my take on Hana Kimi, Sesshoumaru/Rin style!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, including, but probably not limited to, Sesshoumaru, Rin, and the Hana-Kimi plot line/character names.

EDIT 3/31/12 – Fixed a bunch of grammar mistakes and just tried to make the story flow better in general. Wow, can't believe it's been a year…

* * *

Rin squeezed her eyes shut, her knuckles white from squeezing her armrest. The flesh underneath her fingernails were pale as her death grip relentlessly carved its way into the plastic. Her stomach was rebelling at the loss of gravity from the freefall by doing a few somersaults along the way.

None too quickly, Rin felt the first reassuring tremors of the metallic bird hitting the runway. She breathed a sigh of relief, only to inhale sharply as the plane made a sudden lurch before stopping at the gate.

The petite brunette held her breath for a few more seconds after that to make sure the plane was truly still. All around her, people were scrambling to get their carry-on luggage.

Rin tried desperately to recall why she'd decided to pay her year's worth of savings to subject herself to this torture. Ah…that's right. Of course.

Rin had grown up in an upper-middle class neighborhood, with the typical neighbors who had two and half children—and a dog. However, her own family was far from the all American dream. She was the only daughter of a single mother. That alone was reason enough for her conservative Japanese grandparents to not want anything to do with the mother and child. In fact, the only time her grandparents had bothered to contact the estranged duo was when Rin had tested into a prestigious prep school on the east coast—you know, the kind where rich kids wore over-priced uniforms and rubbed shoulders with offspring of influential families.

And now, well, Rin was certain that her grandparents would faint if they ever caught wind of what she was planning to do.

But, a blissful smile emerged on Rin's face as she allowed her large, slanted eyes to flutter shut. Slowly, the noise and chaos around her faded. She conjured up the image that had haunted and teased and tempted her mind for the last few months. The figure that gracefully danced on the ice. The arms that moved with such confidence and poise like a pair of wings on a fairy. The body that moved in perfect control, the tiniest movement calculated, expressive, poignant. The legs that were lean yet possessed a feral strength. It was strength to lift that toned body as if weightless into the air, spinning. The footwork that beguiled difficulty, showing only clean precision.

She didn't know his name. Well, not at that time, anyway. All she knew was that he was her ice king. He was her Majesty of figure skating, who, aloof and beautiful, stood at the pinnacle of her mind.

Oh, she found his name out soon enough. Sesshoumaru. Sano Sesshoumaru.

He wasn't exactly world-renowned. In fact, she had only seen him on TV by chance. Her physical education teacher at school, Ryuukotsei Romanov, was an avid fan of figure skating, and also happened to be dorm supervisor in Rin's student housing building. It seemed that the handsome instructor had taken an instant shine to the young girl and he proceeded to look out for her for the entire year she attended the school. Rin would have been creeped out by his fixation on her if she weren't aware that the man had a gigantic crush on her mother. The man had taken one look at a photo of Ashiya Modori and never so much as cast a second glance at another woman all year.

Rin giggled at the memory. Her handsome middle-aged instructor had almost started crying when she announced she was going to transfer from her prep school to a private school in Tokyo. Though, he wasn't the only one who was out of sorts with her decision. Her mother, a dance instructor in a sub-urb outside of San Diego, was chagrined that her one and only child, whose education she'd been saving for for years, had dropped out of one of the finest prep-schools in the country on a seeming whim. The only thing that appeased the thirty-four year-old was that her daughter was going to her own home country to reconnect with the culture there. If only the poor woman knew Rin's true motivations.

With some difficulty, the fifteen year-old hefted her carry-on suitcase out of the overhead storage and rolled it towards the terminal. For the first time in the last few days, she was thankful for her haircut. If she'd still sported her long hazel hair that ran down to the middle of her back, it would surely get caught somewhere between the handles and the wheels.

Any passenger with the misfortune of walking behind her, Rin thought, must be worried. She couldn't stop her body from shaking as she mentally cackled. She imagined the absolute horror that would no doubt adorn her mother's delicate porcelain features if only she knew exactly what kind of school her daughter had transferred to!

Oh, Shikon Gakuen was hardly a bad school. Over eighty percent of its students matriculated to a top tier Japanese university every year. It was the student body that her mother would fret over. Shikon was a boy's only school.

The only reason Rin even managed to enroll was because she had purposefully mistranslated the papers to the gullible Mr. Romanov, who she had talked into signing for her transfer.

Now, why would a girl with perfectly bright prospects in her future want to transfer to a boy's school under an assumed gender? Well, remember that figure skater, Sesshoumaru? Let's just say Rin was a little bit obsessed over him.

Rin had really thought that New York was a busy city. Really. But Tokyo was a whole other ball game. It almost seemed like the damnable traffic was a jealous third wheel trying to prevent her from meeting Sesshoumaru.

Which meant, of course, that trying to get to the first class on time while facing the morning rush hour was downright impossible.

Severely sleep deprived, slightly car sick, Rin crawled out of the cab after handing a small fortune over to the cab driver. Something told her that she had just gotten ripped off, but it wasn't like Rin knew how to argue fluently in Japanese.

However, all grumpiness disappeared as she gazed upon the glass and steel structures of the school. She would spend the next three years of her life here, hopefully. It was vastly different from the gothic architecture of her prep school, but just as imposing and grandiose. In place of the flying archways and intricate sculptures, Shikon was all glass, steel, and modern construction. And, this was where Sesshoumaru was. Just the thought made the school buildings seem brighter.

"You're in the way," an icy tenor intruded into Rin's fanciful imagination.

Before the petite cross-dresser could respond, the boy's long limbs had elegantly side-stepped her luggage infested form, as if its mere presence was even unworthy of disdain, and brusquely stepped into the building, his tapered fingers expertly flashing an ID card at the sensor on the side of the door.

Rin gaped. The rudeness! Didn't that boy know how to treat a lady? Oh. Oh wait. She wasn't exactly a lady no more. That was when she saw the gate closing. Damn. She didn't have an ID card yet—that gate wasn't going to open for her!

Inhaling deeply, Rin pushed off with her legs and sprinted through the closing gate. As she passed the tall boy from earlier, who was now casually and aristocratically proceeding down the hall, she proudly stuck out her tongue at him.

Eventually, Rin came to a stop in front of classroom 3B. She reigned in her giggles at her own antics. Oh, how she had longed to stick out her tongue in her prep school! But it wasn't appropriate there because she was a girl.

Clearing her throat, Rin rapped the door smartly. She checked herself. Shoulders even, back straight, head high. First impressions were important, after all.

The door opened.

A surprisingly handsome young man opened the door. He was wearing a lab coat.

"Oh! You must be the transfer student! Ashiya Ren-kun, no?" the man greeted, "Come in! I'm the school nurse and personal planning adviser Umeda-sensei — "

Before he could finish what he was about to say, a skillfully coordinated unit of paper airplanes flew to Rin's face. Bull's-eye.

Bewildered, Rin's head swirled around the classroom. All the students wore identical looks of absolute stoicism and passing interest on their faces.

Oh, so they were playing this game, huh?

Rin calmed the ticking of her brow and composedly picked up one plane from the ground.

"Thank you for the greeting! Yes, I did just arrive via plane! Only…" she paused, scanning the room for effect, "a regiment is only as strong as the weakest soldier." She inwardly grinned. Oh, she could see them now, the boys in the front row were squirming a little.

"Now, take this plane, for instance," she lectured, "it only hit the collar of my shift, not my nose like the other ones. If you look closely, you can see that the crease in the wing was done twice. Pure sloppiness."

She smiled indulgently at the class. "I hope we all get along from now on! Let's leave the passive aggressive origami attacks to the ladies, shall we?"

Silence. The boys blinked at her owlishly. Rin breathed a sign of relief. Sure, she had just made herself public enemy number one, but at least she asserted herself. Oh, psychology 101, how much it elucidated the fragility of the male ego. Granted, having to resort to misogynist comments made her cringe, but she needed to make herself appear more masculine. She just hoped that no one noticed her trembling under all the bravado.

"Right, then," the sensei announced in the awkward silence, "Ashiya-kun, wonderful introduction. Let's see…that seat in the front row should be unoccupied." He pointed to two of the empty desks in the front, beside the window.

Rin pulled together her most refined boy look, which successfully made her look snooty and pompous, and guided her suitcases to the desk closer to the window. But as she went to lift her school bag up to the desk, her hand was met with empty air.

Her ears flushed red as she heard the chuckles start to sound all around her.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and a tall, lean figure stepped in with all the grace of a giant panther.

It was the boy she had passed, and displayed her tongue to, earlier.

He strolled up to her, dropping her book bag onto the table further from the window. His molten gold eyes glared at her in icy silence.

"That's my seat you're in."

The boys finally burst out laughing. Rin wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground and die. The boy—no, the man—she stuck her tongue out at, the one whose seat she just tried to steal, the one who was forced to carry her book bag filled with all the text books for the year—was Sesshoumaru.


	2. Bubble

And after 2 years…we have chapter 2…

Hope you enjoy.

As always, I don't own Inuyasha or Hana-Kimi.

* * *

Rin was a good student, she really was. There were just a few too many barriers to learning in this particular context though.

First of all, Rin's mind was on a replay loop of her embarrassing introduction. Her pale ivory cheeks unfailingly continued to flush hotly at each remembrance of the star-crossed first meeting.

Then, there was the fact that the professor was drawling on in Japanese, which, though Rin was fluent in, she had to concentrate to understand what he was saying. Besides, gone was the handsome advisor Umeda-sensei, only to be replaced by some droning old man whose surname was too long for Rin to bother to remember when she had much more fascinating company right beside her…

Speaking of which, the third distraction came in the form of the fine specimen of male beauty just one mere meter away from her grubby little hands. All too often, Rin found her attention diverted by the smallest movement from her idol. Her teenage girl's mind was giddy with excitement. The TV definitely did not do him justice!

"Ashiya-kun…"

"Ashiya-kun…"

Rin's eyebrow ticked. Really, whoever that was should really just answer the short little balding sensei. Ramen-sensei's nasally voice was keeping Rin from fully appreciating the profile of Sesshoumaru's aristocratic nose.

"Ashiya-kun!"

Whoever this Ashiya-kun was…

Rin started.

"Hai!" She had forgotten that her name was now Ashiya-_kun_!

"Clearly you've yet to understand that you're in Japan now," the little toad tsked.

"Gomen Ramen-sensei!"

Rin stared wide-eyed in horrid fascination as the teacher's face turned several different shades of purple as his beak-like mouth sputtered like a boiling tea kettle.

* * *

"Hey! Ashiya-kun!"

This time, Rin turned around as her name was called.

It was one of her new classmates, but he sat on the other side of the classroom so she hadn't met him yet. Luckily, he wasn't one of the boys who'd chucked the airplanes at her head… Though if Rin had to describe him, he'd be the "all American boy" – only, he was Japanese. He had big expressive eyes and a friendly face that promised to fill out nicely in the next few years. His limbs a still a little disproportionately long, but they were lean, muscular, and tanned – like those belonging to someone who played sports outdoors.

"That's was awesome!" He laughed as he jogged up to her, "I've never seen Jaken-sensei so mad before!"

At that, Rin laughed as well. The little toad-like sensei had clearly not been amused when she managed to butcher his name to that extent… And it hadn't even been on purpose!

"I'm Nakatsu Kohaku by the way," the boy introduced himself.

Rin giggled into her hand.

"What's so funny?" Kohaku asked, a little offended that his name was being laughed at – er…giggled at? He shook his head. Nah – he was imagining things. Attending an all-boys boarding school did that to healthy young men – made them see feminine things where there weren't any.

"Sorry, sorry," Rin laughed this time – realizing that giggling probably wasn't appropriate behavior for a teenage boy. "It's just that…I grew up in the States and am not used to hearing names that rhyme."

"Eh…" Kohaku shrugged, "guess it is funny when you think about it!"

Rin grinned – what a good-natured guy!

"Ashiya Ren," she introduced herself, holding out her hand.

"Welcome to Shikon then," Kohaku announced grandiosely with an exaggerated flourish of this arm before shaking her hand enthusiastically.

Before Rin could say anything more, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

"A-shi-ya-kun," a smooth male voice enunciated playfully.

Rin swirled around, unused to having someone unfamiliar invade her personal space.

"Nanba Miroku's the name, my fair lad," the newcomer introduced himself with a certain amount of unsolicited egoism. Though, Rin supposed that if she weren't so taken with Sesshoumaru, she'd agree that Miroku was quite good-looking.

"Ashiya R-"

Miroku interrupted her by holding up his hand. Interestingly enough, there was a rather prominent scar down the middle.

"Oh, everyone's heard of you by now," Miroku chuckled, "It's not every day Jaken sensei goes off the deep end like that!"

Rin had the decency to blush.

"Aw…you're just adorable!" Miroku laughed, then he turned to Kohaku, "Sorry, I'm going to be stealing him – gotta show him the dorms and all that!"

"You're a RA?"

"A what? Oh, no – we have dorm heads here. But yeah, that's me," Miroku explained, "Anyways follow along!"

Rin wasn't left much of a choice as the long haired boy swaggered away.

Unbeknownst to her, Kohaku followed Rin's petite form until it became lost in the swarm of other students walking through the hall. Could a guy's hand really be that…soft and smooth? Kohaku unconsciously clasped his own hand before shuddering and letting go. That just looked…awkward…

* * *

"And…this here is the Second Dorm!" Miroku announced with not a little bit of pride, "home to the more handsome population here on campus!"

At this point, Rin had now doubt that Miroku was referring to himself. She sighed. At least he was friendly and seemed to know the school quite well. And the dorm looked well kept. The building was all sleek modern angles like the actual school buildings, which were about a fifteen minute walk away. There was even a cafeteria just for Dorm Two!

"Now, where are you?" Miroku hummed to himself as he pulled out a note pad from his school blazer, "Ah – here you are! You're pretty lucky for a first year!"

They had stopped at a relatively non-descript door towards the end of the hallway on the fourth floor.

"What do you mean?"

"This is an end unit, which means you get a little balcony connected to the room – and…" Miroku winked, "instead of a shower stall – you get a bath tub! Selling point for inviting girls over!" He ended this with firing off an imaginary pistol with his hand.

Rin just wrinkled her brow doubtfully.

"Don't worry about your roommate either – the guy's pretty much committed for life," Miroku continued, incorrectly interpreting Rin's skepticism as unease, "Can you imagine? He broke his leg for this girl and landed himself in the hospital for a few months – that's commitment right there. Though, because of that, he was late enrolling so he's been greedily occupying this room by himself until now – he might be a little grouchy at first but I'm sure you guys will be fine."

That said, Miroku knocked and…fished out a key…to open the door before anyone on the opposite side could have possibly made it to the door…

"Privacy is definitely going to be an issue here," Rin thought to herself.

Then, all thoughts disappeared. Standing on the other side of the door was Sesshoumaru, looking like he was caught between changing and reaching for the door knob. And he was topless. His chest was beautiful. So was his chiseled six pack. His skin was gorgeous. His face was flawless as ever.

Rin was going to be living in a room with him. Rin was rooming with her Ice King. And, according to Miroku, he was beyond spoken for.


	3. Roommate

Chapter 3: Roommate

I updated! Surprised?

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Hana-Kimi, or anything you recognize. Any OOCness from the characters belong to me though!

* * *

Sesshoumaru wasn't having a good day. He absent mindedly reached for his blue towel, folded, as always, neatly on the towel rack, placed, as always, just so that he could reach it without dripping water all over the bathroom floor.

Heck, who was he kidding? He wasn't having a good week. He haphazardly dried his dripping silver strands, wringing as much water out of them as he could.

It all started five days ago – Monday, to be precise. Miroku had sauntered into Sesshoumaru's blissfully roommate-less dorm room as if he'd accomplished some great feat. Sesshoumaru had just raised one finely arched brow at the narcissist.

"You, my dear wretched roommate-less soul," Miroku announced grandiosely, "will be getting a roommate by Friday!"

The silver-haired teen was finished with his hair by now and was swiping the towel across his torso, catching stray droplets as they collected at the hollows of his collarbones and the bellybutton sunken into his firm abs.

He frowned. It didn't take a genius to realize that Sesshoumaru liked his personal space. Having a roommate meant losing a nice quiet place for himself, random things in his room being moved, dealing with unwanted noise and clutter, no more lounging around in frumpy sweats – not that, of course, Sesshoumaru would ever do such a thing –, and goodness! What if the other person smelled? Sesshoumaru wrinkled his finely shaped nose. He always did have a sensitive nose.

He bent over to dry his long, toned legs. He had overslept this morning – no, it didn't have anything to do with the fact that if given the choice, he would have preferred not being in Jaken-sensei's presence – he swore the toad-like man had an unhealthy interest in him. He arrived outside the school building just in time to see a new student being dropped off at the curb. The student's gray necktie indicated he was a freshman. Joy… His new roommate…

For a moment Sesshoumaru wondered if he should help the smaller boy with his luggage. Then a thought dawned on him. Maybe he could drive the kid away by being as inhospitable as possible!

Unfortunately for Sesshoumaru, it didn't seem like his plan worked. Sesshoumaru felt even more harassed than usual during morning classes. He had finally gotten used to Jaken-sensei's abnormally large yellowish eyes ogling him – well, decreased his reaction to just a small shudder each time the eyes shifted his way – only to find that the new student was shooting him adoring gazes with unnatural persistency.

Sesshoumaru growled to himself as he stepped out of the shower. Going to an all-boys' school and seeing some of the looks some of the students shared, he knew there was a population of otherwise oriented students at school. But really – why, why, why – his own roommate of all people? He briefly comforted himself by thinking that at least the boy wasn't bad to look at. Not bad to look at at all, in fact. Ren-kun had large almond-shaped hazel eyes that were framed by thick dark lashes that were rare among Japanese people. His skin was very fair and had a nice healthy complexion.

Sesshoumaru's long slender fingers paused abruptly in the middle of tying the towel to his hips. Did he honestly just think that about his roommate? He shook his head and proceeded to pull the towel tighter.

Just then, he heard Miroku's obnoxiously loud voice discussing the finer points of attracting girls to the all-boy dorm. Sesshoumaru just scoffed. He hurriedly secured the knot and made a dash out of the bathroom towards his dresser in hopes of getting at least a t-shirt on before the intrusive dorm head opened the door.

Unfortunately, it was not to be so as Miroku knocked and entered a few seconds later.

* * *

And Rin was in blissful La-la land. In front of her was Sesshoumaru, barely dressed. A dark blue towel was hung low around his hips, only exposing his strong but lean calves and feet underneath. His torso was largely uncovered barring the strange situation of his t-shirt, which was currently caught with an arm in the hole for the head and another deliciously muscled arm in the proper hole – except, that the shirt was backwards! His silky silver hair looked like he had just abused it with a rough towel – no doubt the culprit was how slung over his narrow hips – and was in disarray.

Rin, despite her best efforts to be a boy, squealed, flushed, ogled, drooled – only slightly, mind you – and grinned like an idiot.

Miroku swiveled his head between Sesshoumaru and Rin, shot Sesshoumaru a sympathetic look, and suggested, "Ren-kun, why don't you set your stuff down by the bunk?"

Rin nodded, still sporting her grin – which was progessing into a leer by the second – and proceeded to drag her suitcases towards the bunk.

"Sorry about this man," Miroku whispered, actually serious for once.

Sesshoumaru just glared.

"Look," Miroku held up his hands in surrender, "I didn't know! You know with Shippo following me around like he does, I wouldn't wish this on anyone!" Then, as if to make Sesshoumaru feel better, "Hey, at least he's a looker."

If looks could kill, Miroku would have died very young indeed.

"Anyways, I gotta go now – dorm head meeting and all that!" the pony-tailed teen said nervously, this time loud enough for Rin to hear.

Sesshoumaru could just feel a headache building.

He turned around to see what had become of his tidy room by now. Half in fear of the smaller boy perhaps still ogling him, and half terrified that somehow his room was now a disaster.

To his surprise, Rin had already located the one empty dresser in the room and was currently taking out piles of neatly stacked and folded clothes from one of the suitcases and re-housing them. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad?

He picked up the clothes he had planned to change into and marched into the bathroom to change.

By the time he was done, he stepped out to find that the smaller boy had already emptied one suitcase and was in the process of pulling out a fluffy looking green duvet set from the other. Sesshoumaru almost sighed in relief. He had been half expecting some shade of pink.

"Ano…" the smaller boy started, "Sano-san, it's nice to meet you. I didn't get to talk to you much in class today and am surprised that we're roommates."

"Suppose I should be civil if he's going to at least act normal like this," Sesshoumaru thought.

"Nice to meet you too," he managed to force out.

The smaller boy beamed at him.

Sesshoumaru could honestly testify that he was momentarily blinded, but somehow, wasn't dissatisfied with the radiant expression on the petite boy's face.

"Do you need help unpacking?"

"No…not really. I didn't bring too much with me – mainly just clothes and some mementos."

"I'll be reading then."

"Ah!" The dark-haired boy exclaimed before Sesshoumaru could sit down at his desk, "One thing though – do you mind if I take the top bunk?"

Sesshoumaru rose an eyebrow. Then he glanced at the bunk. He had been sleeping on the top bunk since the semester started because the other – inconveniently intrusive – boys in the dorm had a habit of visiting whenever they felt like it and would sit on the bottom bunk. It annoyed him.

Seeing his expression, Rin apologized and set her comforter on the bottom bed.

Rin had finished her unpacking feeling not just a little bit skittish. Her crush was in the room, making a very pretty profile of himself reading, with the setting sun casting shadows across his flawless face. And the room was awkwardly quiet.

She squeaked out a nervous "I'm going to shower!" before grabbing a towel and change of clothes and all but ran to the bathroom.

* * *

Her pulse slowed down as she closed the door and slumped against it. She touched her hand to her face. It felt warm. Remembering the scene she walked in on, Rin couldn't help but blush all over again. She then cringed. But it must've been weird for him – seeing his male roommate squeal and ogle like that. She stripped out of her day-old clothes – she had been wearing the school uniform since boarding the flight in New York – and sighed happily as she took off her very constrictive sports bra. She had bought it a size smaller. It was a little saddening but her chest was flat enough as it was that she didn't really need anything more.

She stepped into the tub, which was still wet from Sesshoumaru's shower earlier. "I wonder what this shower has seen?" She giggled to herself. Then, her hand halted at the water knob. She remember back at her old school when the girls gossiped amongst themselves about what boys did in the shower. Inadvertently, her stomach did a flip flop as she searched surreptitiously for any traces of what may have taken place a mere hour before she entered the same shower. Finding nothing suspicious, she breathed a sigh of relief before starting the water.

* * *

As for Sesshoumaru, he gave up reading as soon as the bathroom door shut. He had been pretending for the last hour and if the smaller boy had braved a look at Sesshoumaru's book, he might have even noticed that it was upside down.

The tall silver-haired teen ruffled his now dry and enviously silky hair that had fallen perfectly in place and sat down on the bottom bed, only the realize that it was no longer his alternate seat – but rather his roommate's sleeping spot. He got up, feeling guilty of doing exactly what he thought a roommate would do to him – encroaching on private space and property.

As he did so, he saw a photo frame peeking out from under the blanket – thank goodness he hadn't sat on that! Curious, he pulled it out. It was a picture of a beautiful pair of women. They were definitely related – almost identical if not for the fact that one was clearly the other's mother. He gasped. Now that he looked closer, the younger one was obviously Ren-kun!

Sesshoumaru shook his head – his roommate was a cross-dresser! "And a pretty one at that," came an unbidden thought that he ruthlessly squashed. He paused, suddenly disgusted with himself. He was starting to remind himself of his old man. So prejudiced. Ren-kun seemed like an okay person. Sure, he was most likely a gay cross-dresser – probably an uke if the situation arose – wait…he didn't just think that! But the boy couldn't help who he was and seemed like an outspoken and friendly person – if what happened during his class introduction and the Jaken-sensei encounter were anything to go by. Besides, aside from the ogling episode when the boy first stepped into the room, he had been acting pretty normal.

At this, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but let loose a self-satisfied smirk. Hey, at least he was all that!

But looking at the dark-haired boy's possessions on the bed, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but feel bad. The boy was going to be teased recklessly by their unwanted guests if they say that picture. And now that he looked closer, the pillow and blanket were very very soft – a little too comfortable for a boy. And was that a white puppy plushy beside the pillow? Well, at least Ren-kun would get along with the resident dorm pet Fluffy pretty well. He looked further and almost laughed aloud. The duvet cover hadn't been completely zipped and he could see a light pink duvet peaking out from underneath. He could imagine the jeering already. Besides, it really didn't make sense for the taller and heavier roommate to be sleeping on top…

* * *

When Rin stepped out of the bathroom, after triple checking that her clothes were on properly and that her now washed pair of panties was hidden out of site, she found that she didn't need to be so careful. The room was empty.

Closing the bathroom door behind her, she noticed a post-it stuck to the back.

_Feel free to take the top bed. _

_I needed to wash my sheets anyways so the bed is empty. _

_Gone for dinner. _

_The cafeteria is open until 8pm so you should hurry. _

Rin could feel a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She giggled like an idiot and clutched the note to her chest.

* * *

And...Done for now! Isn't Sesshoumaru a great guy under that exterior? Hehe. He's also a bit of a narcissist himself! But well deserved, mind you. Leers at him myself...

Hope you guys enjoyed.


	4. Pillow Talk

Chapter 4: Pillow Talk

AN: Surprise! It's this rare and elusive creature called an update! This chapter is dedicated to my sister, who will be vacationing so I wanted to get this out for her to read before she's on limited internet access. Have a safe trip =)

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything you recognize.

* * *

Sesshoumaru refused to admit it. He was… No! No! No he wasn't! Sesshoumaru did not twitch! Though if the little uncontrolled muscle jerks were occurring on anyone else, they would definitely qualify as twitches – or as his physical therapist called them, myoclonus. He finally gave up reading his notes from class, leaned back into his chair and glared at the source of his unease.

"What?" he ground out as calmly as he could.

He instantly felt like a jerk. The large, clear brown eyes that had been following his every movement for the last hour – unblinkingly, he was sure – blinked and looked hurt. He almost marveled at how wonderfully his roommate could pull off puppy eyes. The dorm pet, a huge white husky who went by the name of Fluffy, would certainly be proud.

"Well…"

Sesshoumaru stared down unblinkingly, as if untouched by the perfect eyes of a hurt puppy.

Rin fidgeted awkwardly under his gaze. She hadn't realized that her staring was so obvious, or that it was so offsetting.

"I.." she began, "Thank you for giving me the top bunk! It was very nice of you!" she blurted out, strangely embarrassed.

Sesshoumaru felt the corners of his mouth tug upwards into a smile. He shrugged his wide shoulders hunkily. Something about the way his roommate's slight social awkwardness was endearingly...well…adorable.

Emboldened by Sesshoumaru's easy gesture, Rin swung her pajama clad legs over the top bunk and jumped down. She scooted over to the tall boy and peered over his shoulder.

For his part, Sesshoumaru felt like he'd just convinced some curious but cautious small wild animal to come eat out of his hand.

"What are you reading?" the smaller roommate asked.

"Notes from world literature class. It's for that essay Jaken-sensei wants us to write on Dante's Inferno," he explained. Shikon Gakuen was a notoriously rigorous dormitory style private high school and its humanities department was known for graduating some of the finest writers in the country. The silver-haired boy hoped that his new roommate knew this before transferring in.

Rin whistled. "Such a hard worker!"

For some inexplicable reason, Sesshoumaru wanted to blush. Instead, he just raised one elegantly arched eyebrow at the petite girl in challenge.

"What, you haven't started it yet?" he asked, "Jaken-sensei's already got it out for you. You not turning in an essay is just the sort of thing he needs to fuel his ire."

"I've got something in mind…"

Sesshoumaru knew the little imp was baiting him to ask. He huffed softly, air rushing out between his luscious lips, and went back to revising his notes, determined not to rise to the bait.

The minutes ticked by and he could swear that he smelled the smaller boy's jasmine shampoo wafting teasingly at the tip of his overly sensitive nose. Well, Sesshoumaru though absent-mindedly to himself, at least he didn't land himself a stinky roommate – now that, for Sesshoumaru, would have been torture!

He could feel the large brown eyes on him again. Sesshoumaru bit back a laugh. Rooming with Ren was going to be entertaining at least. For some reason he felt wryly amused at the smallest things. But he stubbornly refused to ask the transfer student's essay topic would be. He baited him, and Sesshoumaru was not about to tap along someone else's tune. Besides, he had schoolwork to focus on.

But before the taller boy could immerse himself in his class notes, he felt the air around him move as his smaller roommate headed back to the bunks. He glanced over his papers surreptitiously only to spy the lithe French terry covered form climb up the bunk ladder and snuggly ensconce itself into a sea of fluffy blankets. Then, a head of tousled hair emerged from the blankets and two large almond shaped eyes found his, indisputably catching him in mid-spy.

Curious small animal, indeed.

Sesshoumaru finally let loose a rich chuckle and sauntered over to the bunk, his eyes coming up level with the guard on the top bunk.

"So…" he began, "what is this essay topic you've already thought up?"

The soft pink lips formed a grin. "I'm going to compare similarities and parodies between The Decameron and Inferno," the large eyes lit up a little more at the possibilities, "I think it'd be interesting."

It was a good idea. Sesshoumaru nodded at his roommate, feeling a wave of respect towards the smaller boy. At least – despite first impressions – he didn't end up with an airhead.

But he did worry a little. "I think some of the boys in class think you're a little precocious. Are you sure you want to continue giving them an excuse to pick on you?"

The large brown eyes blinked and the rounded smiling cheeks sagged a little before brightening up again. "If you've got it, flaunt it!" Ren smirked confidently, remembering how taken aback the airplane throwing classmates looked earlier that day, "Besides, I think Jaken-sensei would have that I came up with an original idea." The smaller boy's grin grew wider and the brown eyes took on an unholy gleam.

"And...boys?" the soft pink lips teased.

Sesshoumaru glared back playfully, "That's right. Boys. I don't understand why they're the so age as me and so immature." At that, his aristocratic nose wrinkled in distain.

His efforts were awarded by loud bell-like laughter.

Sesshoumaru grinned in return. He felt a bit of admiration for the smaller boy's confidence and bravery. It wasn't every day that a gay cross-dresser braved an all-boy's school – that was practically asking to be bullied! And on top of that, the dark-haired boy wasn't going to let possible bullies get in the way of his academics. It wasn't until he got back to his desk that he balked. Was it normal for him to admire a fellow boy? And to have gazed at the smaller boy's moist pink lips for as long as he did just now?

* * *

Rin, for her part, was amazed by how well she and Sesshoumaru were getting on. Or, well, at least they talked to each other. She almost squealed into her blankets, thinking of how awkward their first meeting that day had been. And their second meeting. But she couldn't get her lips to stop quirking upwards when she thought of the tall toned boy.

She wasn't able to fall asleep. At first, she blamed it on the excitement of the day. After tossing around for a bit longer, and taking one too many sniffs at the mattress in some vague attempt to see if she could smell remnants of Sesshoumaru's body wash on the mattress he had slept on just yesterday, she forced herself to admit the truth.

She was scared. Here she was, fifteen years old, having lived with women all her life, and now… Now sharing a room with a man. And not just any man, but a beautiful and kind man who just so happened to have a crush on. But she also had no idea who he was outside of a few magazine interviews. Did knowing his supposed favorite color really help her decide if he was going to be a safe room partner?

Unbidden, the thoughts came. What if he woke up at night, then came back to bed, only to forget that he was in the bottom bunk? He'd be up in her bed, find out her gender… What did any red-blooded teenage boy do when they found out their roommate was a girl?!

Rin shuddered. Rationally, she didn't think Sesshoumaru would do anything bad even if he did find out. But in the middle of the night after failing to fall asleep for over an hour, rationality sometimes slipped a little.

"Go to sleep will you?" A groggy voice from below muttered, husky from sleep.

Rin would've swooned at that voice in any other situation. Instead, her voice came out as a squeak, "Sorry!"

She heard a sleepy chuckle, "Don't tell me my 'ready-to-take-on-Jaken-monster' roommate is actually afraid of the dark!"

Rin giggled softly. "Hardly."

Silence.

"Is it the time difference? Or that you're far from home?"

Rin sighed, flopping back onto her back and untangling her limbs from her blankets.

"No."

Another comfortable silence.

"Never had a roommate before?"

Rin gasped. Did he just read her mind?

The husky voice let out a laugh. "I'm not used to it either. For what it's worth, I'm a sound sleeper and don't sleep walk – as far as I know."

She laughed at the last part. Then blushed as she realized she was learning his sleep habits. It seemed as if she'd skipped several stages in dating and just went straight to bedroom habits with him. Despite this passing thought, Rin was already feeling more relaxed with the idea of sharing a room with Sesshoumaru.

She heard a loud yawn from underneath her. Followed by a sleepy mumble. She strained her ears to hear, but instantly flushed red as she deciphered the handsome boy's half-incoherent sentence, "You don't crawl into my bed and I won't crawl into yours, alright?"

Unsure of what to say to that – he was probably only half aware of what he was saying at this point anyway – she answered, "Alright. You get to sleep now. Don't you have off-ice training in the mornings or something?"

The reply that came destroyed any semblance of sleepiness Rin had felt settling in.

"I quit skating."

* * *

I've got part of the next chapter typed out already... But no promises as to how soon I can get it out.

Hope you enjoyed!


	5. His Circumstances

**His Circumstances**

Surprised that I updated? I am too. Happy Easter!

Usual disclaimers apply.

* * *

"Jeez…Sesshoumaru my man!" Sesshoumaru glared at the offending hand that casually slapped him on the back.

Miroku just smirked at him.

"What?" the silver haired teen asked, slightly annoyed at the breach of his personal space.

"Nothing much," the ponytailed senpai shrugged, before smirking knowingly at Sesshoumaru again.

Sesshoumaru decided to just ignore the idiot and continued walking to the locker rooms.

"You're not cute at all!" the older boy whined histrionically, "The least you could do is blush and stutter a bit!"

Sesshoumaru almost choked at the absurdity of that. _Him_, blush and stutter?! Miroku had finally gone and lost his marbles.

"Fine!" Miroku threw his hands up in resignation, "I won't tease you about you and that delicious little roommate of yours anymore, but don't assume the rest of the school will do the same!"

Sesshoumaru balked.

"What?" He ground out, his voice quiet and calm.

Any human with an evolved sense of self-preservation would've stopped right there, but Miroku – having obviously skipped a few stages in natural selection – just kept on going.

"You know, that pretty, doe-eyed, ivory-skinned roommate of yours! He's got these big bags under his eyes for the last week," Miroku wriggled his eyebrows, "Be a little more subtle will you? I mean, the first day or two we'd assume it was jet lag, but it's been a week! What naughty things have you been doing to that innocent little pretty at night?"

Sesshoumaru wanted to punch. He wanted to growl. He wanted to…well…words were failing him. They were sinking down his throat faster than he could conjure them up in his mind. How did these depraved people think these things up?!

"Cat got your tongue?" Miroku winked, "It's okay, you know. Everyone would understand if it's Ren-kun. I mean, you're in an all boy's school and Ren-kun's feminine enough to give a real girl a run for her mon-"

The next thing Miroku knew, he was being pinned against the wall and his neck was caught between Sesshoumaru's outstretched thumb and index finger. He felt like his windpipe was getting squished.

The golden-eyed boy towered over Miroku and ground out, "Don't let me hear about this again."

The pressure was gone as soon as it had come and Miroku sagged to the ground. His violet eyes followed Sesshoumaru's form as it rounded the corner to the gym locker room. He let out a sigh of relief. That was the last time he'd try teasing Sesshoumaru. Underclassman or not.

As it were, Sesshoumaru felt increasingly self-conscious as he entered the locker room to change for gym class. All around him were boys in states of half dress. And everyone seemed to freeze up as he entered. This was followed by a flurry of towel grabbing to hide any inch of skin that was showing. He could have sworn he'd heard a squeal and a high-pitched "Kya!" in there somewhere.

Sesshoumaru growled lowly to himself, mentally thinking of different ways to mutilate Miroku next time he saw him. He stalked over to his locker and proceeded to unbutton his short-sleeved summer uniform.

He was halfway through unzipping his uniform khakis when he felt the air shift against his bare back. He turned around and looked down. There was a shorter boy – Shippo – if he remembered correctly. He rose an unamused eyebrow.

The sandy haired boy, whose round face had yet to lose all its baby fat, shifted around on his feet before finally blurting out, "If it doesn't work out with Ren-kun, you can always be with me!"

Sesshoumaru's brows wrinkled in confusion. What was this idiotic kid talking about? Then, slowly, he glanced around the room. A strange feeling of doom settled in his stomach. It was true that most of the guys in the room were either minding their own business or staring at the confrontation in mild disgust or amusement. However, a fair number of the boys – especially the smaller – what others would describe as effeminate - ones were staring at his exposed chest with rapt attention. He almost recoiled in horror. What exactly did Miroku say to these people?!

Then the locker room door opened and with it a fresh breeze that seemed to purge the somehow stifling locker room of its unwanted homosexual atmosphere. Which was ironic, because in scrolled the other half of the rumor source.

Rin had dashed off to the bathroom to change – mercifully Umeda-sensei seemed to buy that she really did have a bad run of constipation and needed to use the stall. So when she arrived to the locker room, she was expecting that most people would be filing out into the gym. She was surprised when the room was still full. But luckily, it seemed that everyone was either changed or had meticulously covered themselves in their towels. She shrugged, thankful, but surprised. She didn't think boys would be so modest amongst themselves. But really, it wasn't like she wanted to see any of them half-dressed anyhow. And as luck would have it, the only one not covered up was a beautiful stud of a man who happened to be her roommate. She couldn't help but blush slightly at the view. That's when she noticed that the room was dead silent.

"What?" She asked.

It seemed those were the magic words to get activity to restart – in a forced, awkward sort of way.

Shrugging, Rin set her folded school uniform into the top layer of the locker that was pre-labeled for her.

"What's going on? Why was everyone so quiet?" Rin asked, turning to Sesshoumaru, whose locker was next to hers. By now he'd pulled a white cotton t-shirt over himself.

"Nothing," he answered curtly before pointedly turning away from her.

Rin felt at a loss. But she couldn't help but stare at her roommate's long toned legs as he stepped out of the uniform khakis and pulled on his gym shorts – and for once, she wasn't gawking at him just out of admiration. There were no scars or any other signs of injury.

* * *

Rin had just had a shower and was in the middle of opening a bottle of strawberry milk when the door to their room slammed open and Sesshoumaru practically glowered at her before sweeping across the room with all the grace and deadliness of an irate demon lord.

Not one to be intimidated, Rin just glared at him, "What did the door do to you?"

The golden eyes sparked. "Not the door," his voice came out in a growl, "You!"

Now Rin was just confused. She hadn't done anything to him. She calmly set down her strawberry milk, silently hoping that it wouldn't warm too much before she could drink it, and placed her hands on her hips. "And…what did I do?"

"I…you…" Sesshoumaru was surprised at himself. Usually he was much more in control of himself. And it wasn't even the first time one of the other boys had confessed to Sesshoumaru. It seemed like an all-boy's boarding school was practically a breeding ground for the stuff of shounen-ai manga. And Miroku always took delight in spreading unfounded rumors – Sesshoumaru secretly amused himself by thinking the senpai was trying to hide something about himself by putting the limelight on his fellow students. But for some reason, this rumor about Ren had ruffled his proverbial feathers.

Rin waited in silence, knowing from watching her mother teach little kids dance that silence made people talk.

Sesshoumaru took a deep breath. "Miroku's somehow got it in his head that since you've got bags under your eyes, I must be keeping you up at night."

That…was not what she was expecting to hear. But she was confused. "What does that have to do you being out of sorts?"

Sesshoumaru stared at his smaller roommate and hoped that the message would somehow make itself clear inside Ren's noggin.

After a minute of blank confusion, he sighed and continued, "He thinks I'm having sex with you!"

Color had never flew up that quickly on Rin's face before.

"What?" she choked out. Then, a horrible, heart-breaking, though appeared, "You're gay?!"

"What?!" Sesshoumaru's eyes bugged out almost comically, "No!"

Rin stared intently at him before seeing something that apparently satisfied her enough for her to nod.

"Well, if you aren't gay, then why would he say something like that?"

Sesshoumaru wanted to shoot himself. Or better yet, shoot Miroku. "First of all, why would you even think that I might be gay?"

Rin opened her mouth to reply, but he cut her off.

"I know I just said Miroku was thinking something strange, but seriously, why would you even believe it?"

"I don't. But…there's no smoke if there isn't a fire…"

Sesshoumaru felt a little assuaged. After all, Ren could be forgiven since he didn't know about Miroku's tendency to…fabricate.

"I'm straight."

"I know now," her lips quirked up in an amused smirk.

Sesshoumaru couldn't help but wonder if they were as soft as they looked. Then wanted to smack himself. Ren was not helping his problem at all.

"He got the idea because you have these horrendous bags under your eyes."

"Oh," Rin had hoped that the concealer she was applying surreptitiously in the mornings would hide them.

"So…why _are_ you not sleeping?"

"Well, it's my first time this far away from home and I'm a little homesick."

He nodded. Ren would get over that eventually.

Then Rin paused, not knowing how to continue, "And because you told me you quit skating."

Sesshoumaru made a grunt of surprise. He had sort of known that Ren had seen him skate at some point – how, he had no idea since he didn't compete in anything that a lay person would actually watch in the states. But he didn't think his quitting would actually cause sleeping difficulties. He was a little flattered.

For the first several weeks after he announced his withdrawal from competitive figure skating, several youth magazines and many more than several females, ranging from much too young to creepily too old to be interested in him, had stalked the school gates and dorms to ask him why he quit. But people had stopped bothering him soon enough, just in time for the new season to start. All it took were a few promising young skaters and the media and fans had forgotten all about him. Most of the time, Sesshoumaru appreciated the solitude and quiet, but sometimes he couldn't help but sarcastically think to himself how replaceable his skating was.

He shook his head to clear himself from the reminiscing. "I had no idea you were so interested in my skating."

"Not 'were'. I still am," she continued, "I saw you on TV when I was talking one of my teachers back in the States. He was a bit of a figure skating nut," she smiled a little at the thought of Mr. Romanov, "and couldn't forget what I saw."

Sesshoumaru could almost feel a blush of embarrassment creeping up his sculpted cheeks.

Rin continued on, "You looked so graceful and free, but restrained during your program. It must've been a complicated set of expressions to portray. And I don't know much about technique, but I thought it looked amazing!" She gushed on, then slowed as she admitted, "And I really wanted to get to know you."

She slowly raised her eyes to see his reaction. Would he think she was some sort of crazy psychotic stalker?

Sesshoumaru, for his part, was a little stunned. Ren had understood his skating style to a tee. But what the younger boy didn't pick out was that it wasn't the program that he was portraying. It was himself. At some point during his brief skating career, Sesshoumaru had felt suffocated by the expectations that were placed on him and felt that while he loved the thrill of being on ice, he hated the reality of his situation. It had worked well for his Baroque fugue which while innovative for its age, still conformed to the strict form of the genre.

"So…are you freaked out by me now?" Rin ventured, slightly worried by his long silence.

"Hm?" he answered, then processing her question, he chuckled. "I don't know if I should be flattered or scared. But you – so far – have been more logical than most of the school population," he paused, then added, "But I'm still not planning to return to skating."

Rin furrowed her brows. "Would you be terribly mad at me if I tried to change to opinion?"

Sesshoumaru felt a little annoyed. But surprisingly, he felt more amused than he thought he'd be. All the other times someone had told him to return he could just feel the annoyance and impatience ready to pounce out. He didn't reply, but just grunted, settling into his chair.

Rin grinned at her tiny victory. And eager to follow up with another, she asked again, "So you don't think I'm creepy?"

Sesshoumaru bit back a laugh. Did his roommate go too far to see him? Yes. Was he scared for his own safety and sanity? No. But unwilling to play Ren's game, he refused to reply.

"So am I?"

No reply.

"Should I start being more creepy?"

Finally, Sesshoumaru grunted out an amused, "No. You're borderline right now."

He was rewarded by a bright smile that made him want to turn on his lamp to compare lumens against.

"So I'm a Dobler then!"

Sesshoumaru just rose an eyebrow in confusion and shrugged, accepting that his roommate was a little strange…but…he gazed at the petite boy again…no. Definitely not creepy. Maybe even a little likeable. But he wasn't going to say that any time soon.

* * *

Thanks for reading! And a huge thanks for my reviewers =) You guys are more loyal to this story than I am =P

Note: The Dobler thing at the end was inspired by How I Met Your Mother when Ted was talking about this Dobler/Dahmler theory.

I didn't intend for this chapter to be interpreted in an anti-homosexual sort of way. If it reads that way, it is merely to portray the horror of straight young man. If you look at my favorite stories list and some of the other stories I've written it should be obvious I don't have anything against slash.


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